Finalists announced for 2019 Sport Australia Media Awards

Sport Australia congratulates the following finalists for the prestigious Sport Australia Media Awards, with winners to be announced at a gala ceremony in Sydney early next year.

There was strong contention for places among the finalists this year, Sport Australia receiving more than 350 entries.

The Sport Australia Media Awards (#SportAUSMediaAwards) have been running since 2002 and are Australia’s only awards dedicated to recognising excellence in sports journalism, broadcasting, production and photography.

Finalists will be invited to a gala dinner in Sydney on Thursday, 13 February, 2020. The ceremony will also honour a new recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for sports journalism, last awarded to Dennis Cometti AM.

Best reporting of an issue in sport

  • Shark Island Productions, ‘The Final Quarter’
  • Jamie Pandaram, ‘Israel’s holy war’, News Corp Australia
  • Phil Lutton, Damian Ryan, ‘The Shayna Jack Doping Case’, Nine-Fairfax
  • Triple M, ‘Concussion in the AFL – Paddy McCartin’s story’
  • Michael Carayannis, ‘The best there never was’, Daily Telegraph
  • Samantha Lane, ‘Adam Goodes: My love for the game died inside me’, The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age

Best individual sport coverage – broadcast

  • Brenton Speed, Fox Sports Australia
  • Corbin Middlemas, ABC
  • Gerard Whateley, SEN Radio and Fox Footy
  • Tracey Holmes, ABC

Best individual sport coverage – written

  • Jessica Halloran, News Corp Australia
  • Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend
  • Mark Robinson, The Herald Sun
  • Phil Lutton, The Sydney Morning Herald
  • Will Swanton, The Australian

Best individual sport coverage – digital

  • Mary Konstantopoulos, Ladies Who League
  • Samuel Ferris, Cricket Australia
  • David Weiner, Optus Sport
  • Jamie van Leeuwen, ESPN

Best coverage of a sporting event

  • ABC, ‘Invictus Games Sydney 2018’
  • Seven Network, ‘Cox Plate 2018’
  • Optus Sport, ‘FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019’
  • The Age, ‘The Ashes’

Best sport profile – broadcast

  • Richard Bayliss, ‘Top Tier Towns’, Optus Sport
  • Josh Cable, Marcus Cobbledick, ‘Collingwood: From the Inside Out’, Good Thing Productions
  • Michael Chammas, ‘Benji Marshall: A long walk to 300 NRL games’, NRL.com
  • On The Mark, ‘Travis Varcoe’, Fox Footy

Best sport profile – written

  • Martin Smith, ‘Rebuilding Burt: How cricket changed a life’, cricket.com.au
  • Nick Walshaw, ‘Braidon Burns’, Daily Telegraph
  • Peter Badel, ‘Broncos at War’, The Courier Mail
  • Samantha Lane, ‘Adam Goodes’, The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
  • Will Swanton, ‘Steph Gilmore’, The Australian

Best coverage of sport for people with disability

  • ABC, ‘Invictus Games Sydney 2018’
  • Amanda Smith, ‘Blind Tennis’, Sporty ABC Radio National
  • Catherine Marciniak, ‘Leagueability’, ABC
  • Matthew Carmichael, Seven Network

Best regional, rural and suburban sport coverage

  • Anthony Pancia, ‘Coverage of the 2019 Margaret River Pro’, ABC
  • Jennifer Browning, ‘Saving the Coonamble Golf Club’, ABC Western Plains
  • Michael Parris, ‘A male-only tennis club meets its match’, Newcastle Herald
  • Stuart Walmsley, RUGBY.com.au

Best sports photography

  • Darren England, ‘Kurtis Patterson classic catch’, Australian Associated Press
  • Michael Willson, ‘The Kick’, AFL Photos
  • Hamish Blair, ‘Emerging from the shadows’, Australian Associated Press
  • Quinn Rooney, ‘Water Drops’, Getty Images

Best depiction of inclusive sport

  • Joanna Lester, ‘Power Meri’, Media Stockade
  • Reece Homfray, ‘The beating heart of Australian Rules’, The Advertiser
  • Robert Drane, ‘African appearance’, NEXT Media
  • The Outer Sanctum, ABC

Best contribution to sport via digital media

  • Wide World of Sports, ‘The home of rugby league’, Nine Network
  • The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Sport explainers’
  • RUGBY.com.au
  • The Herald Sun, ‘Sacked’

Best analysis of sport business

  • Jamie van Leeuwen, ‘Inside Tasmania’s push for an AFL team’, ESPN
  • John Stensholt, The Australian
  • Tracey Holmes, ‘The Global Swimming Wars’, The Ticket ABC
  • The Business of Sport, Sky News

Previous winners of the Sport Australia Media Awards can be found here.

Sport Australia Media Awards trophies

/Sport Australia Public Release. View in full here.